Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday said it was "absurd" that U.S. government ships are charged to use the Panama Canal after Panama denied a claim that it had agreed to allow them free traversal.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has walked back the assertion of the State Department that Panama “has agreed to no longer charge fees” to US government vessels transiting the Panama Canal after outcry from the Panamanian government.

The State Department claimed it had struck a deal that would save the U.S. government “millions of dollars a year.”